Its late August nearly time to head to France for son Mike and his fiancée Christina’s wedding + granddaughter Amelie Grace. But before we head south we have a week in London to spend time with the family, see a few sights and to head to the English South coast to Eastbourne to enjoy an evening with the Carole King Story and the Musical Beautiful. The Musical is on tour this summer around provincial theatres in the UK and as luck would have it, performances in Eastbourne fitted our itinerary perfectly being close to family in West Sussex.
Parts of the Sussex coastline like above at Saltdean, do look decidedly run down and neglected as we drove east from Newhaven towards Eastbourne. A prominent feature just west of Eastbourne is Beachy Head and the views both east and west are super.
A terribly sad side to Beachy Head is that it is, apparently, the worlds number 2 most favourite suicide location. By the main car park is a Chaplaincy and whilst we were there a vehicle arrived with Chaplaincy volunteers for their evening shift. Its such a stunning location, we visited about 6pm, and drove away heading for Eastbourne and “Beautiful” in quite a sombre mood.
Eastbourne stands out as a “grand old lady of the English seaside”. The Victorian and Edwardian architectural evidence is everywhere to be seen – maybe not the mini London Eye peaking over the apartments in the picture below, but overall the town was looking great . The Congress Theatre that put on the Show was modern, the balcony cafe at the rear overlooked the Eastbourne Tennis complex, famous as a warm up for Wimbledon. The theatre had great acoustics and the show was excellent. A different take on the production from the version we saw in 2018 in the West End, with this time all the actors also being the musicians, which was brilliant.
Heading back to London and time with the family there, lunchtime coincided with Amelie’s new “one sleep a day routine “. So we decided to head to the Thames and to find our own lunch, and after a 30 minute walk from Shepherds Bush via Ravenscourt Park arrived at the Dove Public House on the north bank of the Thames just up from Hammersmith Bridge. We nabbed a table on the edge of the upper terrace to enjoy lunch and the views.
After lunch we walked along the north bank to Hammersmith Bridge which up close is very impressive but for the last 3 years has had some major structural issues and is closed to all but foot traffic. This does make it much less hazardous to photograph. Built in the mid 19th century the suspension bridge may re-open to motor vehicles later this year if refurbishment work is completed.Along our walk some good examples of city life afloat , both for swans and humans, the Thames was very fast flowing and muddy, not very inviting. With history seemingly on just about every corner, London is also moving with the times, electric buses and taxis, plus loads of EV charging points.
Staying with family in London is wonderful, and in Shepherds Bush they have an absolute melting pot of nationalities, language and religion. Uxbridge Road is the nearest main thoroughfare and walking down it to the fishmonger, took me back to time spent in the Middle East with the languages, smells of spice / baking, and the haggling over fresh fruit and vegetables.It was also the weekend of the Notting Hill Carnival and we grabbed these pics above heading past these participants on their way to the parade.
Sunday morning and its time for a walk in Hyde Park, checking out the Serpentine, Princess Diana’s Waterfall , the swimming lido ( a lot of wildfowl and their poo puts us off) and a playground with swings , slides and tunnels for Amelie- perfect.
Leaving London and now in September we have headed back to N Essex and are preparing to travel to France and Christina & Mikes wedding at Aubeterre sur Drone which is in the Charente Dordogne part of Nouvelle Aquitaine. We are now working out how to fit the 4 of us and all the “wedding stuff” into our friends SUV, including the overnight gear we need for the French ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo, as we have sleeper cabins for the voyage across La Manche.
But there is still time for a few walks, check out the pargetting detail on the render to this lovely thatched home, a bike ride for me, lunch at the pub and a bit of the US Tennis Open – then its “fair stood the wind for France”- thank you H.E.Bates and David Jason.
Travels with My Wife 